An Insufficient Resistance

The desire for social change is noble—if tempered by the gospel.

K. A. Ellis| March 17, 2017

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Brendan Howard / Shutterstock

Recently, I was with Christians who live under a Communist regime. They’ve been thrown in prison repeatedly due to their faith, and descriptions of their awful imprisonment are peppered with details of the sweetness of Christ’s presence.

They spoke of the growing spiritual hunger of younger believers as the Communist regime proved unable to deliver on its grand promises of utopian equality. These young people are choosing the narrow road of Christianity rather than the broad road of conformity and compromise. Our friends’ words were studded with the jaggedness of rough-roads-not-yet-made-smooth, and it was difficult not to notice their missing body parts and visible scars—disturbing threads woven into their testimonies’ tapestry.

After decades of watching revolutionary power dynamics, our friends spoke a valuable truth: Revelation is a stronger force than revolution.

By revelation, I mean the wisdom and knowledge revealed to us by our infinite and personal Creator, essential for navigating both the earthly and unseen realms. By revolution, I mean the overthrow of an existing order in favor of a new order.

Revolution is in the air around the globe. Recent studies report class struggles are driving millennials, who are rightfully concerned about their future. They challenge power abuses and seek political and economic alternatives to democratic capitalism. In a December 2011 survey by Pew Research Center, almost half of Americans aged 18 to 29 viewed socialism favorably.

The death of Fidel Castro, and the subsequent praises accorded his revolution (like “absolute giant” and “beacon of light”), revealed how morally neutral dictatorial regimes appear to many. Many Christians today ...

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